At the end of an international gathering that was jolted by a crack of lightning right in the middle, the French story finished with an apparently happy ending. Raymond Domenech and Thierry Henry, the coach and captain whose spectacular fallout has been the talk of the town, fell into each other's arms at the end of France's spirited draw in Serbia. It was an embrace that reeked of Hollywood schmaltz.

A cynic might point to the fact that Domenech has always been fond of amateur dramatics and wince. A romantic might just believe that out of the storm has emerged new sweetness and light. The truth is somewhere in between.

There is some happiness over the horizon in that France performed so creditably, with massive heart, despite playing with 10 men for most of the game in an intimidating environment. Even though they only drew 1-1 in Belgrade and look odds-on to finish in a play-off position, out of the depths they pulled out their best performance since the 2006 World Cup. The travelling fans who twirled Irresistibles Français scarves were not too far off the mark. France were much better than the result. The front line was excellent, with Nicolas Anelka particularly powerful.

But is Domenech back in favour? Does anybody really believe that the kiss-and-make-up scene was for real? Is there sufficient trust in the coach whose decision making and public relations are persistently weird enough to make you wonder if he actually likes being unpopular? The answer to that is a resounding no.

All the credit has gone to the team. The response in the French media to this week's shenanigans was to effectively congratulate Henry for saying what they all thought. Although the France skipper came out publicly to play down reports he had annihilated Domenech by telling him in front of the entire squad that his methods were boring and disorganised, there appears to have been a successful coup. Henry is running the show and Domenech remains in situ as a figurehead, not much more than a puppet leader.

This is history repeating itself. The record books tell you that France under Domenech reached the 2006 World Cup final and were a Zinedine Zidane implosion and a penalty shoot-out away from winning the trophy for the second time in a decade. But the sub-plot reveals how half-way through the campaign Zidane seized power from Domenech and called the shots to inspire a team who started badly but evolved into a formidable force.

It feels like a miracle that Domenech is still in the job at all. He is a man who specialises not just in personality clashes, but personality car crashes. The cast of important players he has, at one stage or another, declined to favour is extraordinary: Karim Benzema, Robert Pires, Ludovic Giuly, Patrick Vieira, Philippe Mexès, Grégory Coupet, Florent Malouda.

Domenech is a strange cat, but he does seem to have the knack of escaping trouble with his lives intact. This is partly due to the remarkable loyalty of the French Football Federation. It takes something truly cataclysmic for them to actually go through the process of sacking a manager. Gérard Houllier and Michel Platini resigned because of an elimination. Roger Lemerre was offered the chance to leave via a resignation to save some face. Jacques Santini was contracted to join Tottenham before his tournament hit the wall against Greece. Aimé Jacquet, the guide of the 1998 World Cup winners, had already decided to step down before the finals and would not change his mind.

Talking of the 1998 World Cup winners, the head honcho of Bordeaux came out this week and stated he would not stand in the way of Laurent Blanc if the national team required the urgent services of the man fondly known as "Président" during his outstanding career.

If that appeared to pile even more pressure on Domenech, his players rescued him in Serbia. He said he was proud and he was right to be so. It is almost impossible to imagine Domenech will be ousted before World Cup qualification is concluded. And if France make it – and they look like being the strongest team of the likely play-off contenders – the Federation will not change things before South Africa even though that is the dream scenario for fans. The mood is frustratingly mixed: they distrust Domenech, but love the team.

It remains a subject for hot discussion in France. Despite having the attacking prowess of Henry, Anelka, Franck Ribéry and Yoann Gourcuff at their disposal, Les Bleus are not scoring enough goals. Of the top two teams in the nine European qualifying groups, only Sweden and Norway – with nine goals – have scored fewer than France's 10.

So, it is over to Henry to see what can be done. "The team has soul," he said after scoring his 50th international goal in Belgrade. "We had a group of warriors."

It is also a group with a new leader. So let's see if he can take his country into another World Cup.